Militants Blew up Chevron's Platform in Okon - Navy

Militants have blown an offshore oil facility
operated by US oil group Chevron in southern
Nigeria, the navy said on Friday, in renewed
violence that could hit exports in Africa's largest
oil producer.
"There was an attack on a Chevron facility near
Escravos on Wednesday night. The incident
happened about four nautical miles from
Escravos, near Warri, in Delta state," spokesman
Chris Ezekobe told AFP.
Ezekobe said "militants using explosives blew up the

Okan platform, a collection facility for
offshore oil and gas that feeds the Escravos
terminal".
The navy was working with other security agents
to track down the culprits, he added.
"A previously unknown group called the Niger
Delta Avengers has claimed responsibility for the
incident," the spokesman said, confirming a
statement on the group's website.
"But we are not ruling out the involvement of
former Niger delta militant leaders, particularly
Tompolo, who is wanted on fraud charges."
A Chevron official, who asked not to be
identified, confirmed the attack and said the
facility had been shut down to contain spills.
There was no immediate indication of the volume
of crude affected but the official said the attack
would affect gas supply to power plants already
hit with almost daily outages.
Attacks on oil and gas facilities have increased
since January when Tompolo -- whose real name
is Government Ekpemupolo -- was declared
wanted on multi-million-dollar corruption charges.
The former leader of militants who wreaked
havoc in the creeks and rivers of the delta in the
2000s is accused of defrauding the government
of more than $175 million (161 million euros).
The offences linked to government maritime
security contracts are alleged to have taken
place between 2012 and last year, a court in
Lagos has been told.
The upsurge in attacks is another security
headache for President Muhammadu Buhari, who
is battling Boko Haram Islamists in the northeast
and an increase in violence between nomadic
herdsman and farmers in central and southeast
Nigeria.
Tompolo, an ally of former president Goodluck
Jonathan, was a prominent leader of the
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger
Delta (MEND), which demanded a fairer share of
oil revenue for local people, most of whom still
live in poverty.
The Niger Delta Avengers group is thought to
involve Tompolo's supporters unhappy about the
charges against him and the winding down of a
government amnesty programme that ended the
unrest in 2009.
But Tompolo has previously said he is not part of
the group.